NH Wool Arts Tour

The NH Wool Arts Tour was this past weekend. I inadvertently discovered it on craigslist and found some time on Sunday to go to a couple of stops. It was a beautiful day, and I really wish we could have gone to all the stops, but finances would not permit...plus, I know I would have ended up with much more roving than I could handle...maybe even a sheep or something!
Anyway, we traveled first to stop #2, Chauncey Farm in Antrim, NH. It was so quaint. They had pumpkins out front and cute dog named Maggie who loved her tummy rubbed.
At this stop I found Brimstone Hollow Farm from Hancock, NH. They had so much to choose from and all of it lovely!
My two purchases:



"Zachariah" and "Ellie"
These two rovings are both much browner in person, the light through my window is a tad harsh today. The colors of Zachariah are subtle and earthy, I loved it on sight. Ellie is an amazingly soft Romney/Border Leicester.



A closeup of Zachariah that's a little closer to actual color.

I had to make myself leave or I probably would have ended up with even more from this couple. Deborah and Les Weymouth are the owners and they were both awesome to talk to.

Next stop we went to for the food, honestly! My husband Andy loves Italian Sausage, so we headed to stop 5, Mirage Alpacas in Washington, NH.
This farm was great. We got to see the alpacas out grazing and many sheep in the barn.
Andy had his food and I bought more roving, this time from Collards of Painted Shadow Farm. This is a mother/daughter team out of Marlow, NH. They had so much to choose from, I felt overwhelmed. Here's what I ended up with:



One ounce of natural wool, one ounce of merino, mohair and alpaca, and 4 ounces of hand dyed wool. These two were super helpful in explaining the dying process to me and just all around cheerful, despite the barn being frigid.

After these two stops we decided to call it a day, or, at least our wallet did. I would have loved to have had the time to go see everyone's work, so we are planning on next year!

If you're interested, check out the website for this year: http://www.woolartstournh.com/

Featured on Geek Crafts!

I'm so excited to hear that my latest cross stitch project that I posted on craftster was noticed by Shayne from Geek Crafts and is being featured today!


Here's my work:





Go check out Geek Crafts if you can at http://geekcrafts.com/ and leave a comment!

New Tool!

As I happen to be obsessed with new tools and techniques, I picked up a woodburning tool at the craft store last week and here's my projects so far:

I had some pre-cut wooden pieces to work with...I can't remember what I originally purchased them for but they work pretty good for wood burning, if a little difficult due to the grain. This one's just a little bird and I like the way that the coloring of the wood works with the image. The disc is about 2" diameter.

A little lamb.

Two birds

Two images on a wooden plank. Currently trying to figure out the best way to cut them out. This likely would have been better thought out if I cut the pieces first, then burned, but forethought wasn't really there. Ideas?

My work setup. Nothing fancy, but it does the job.

A finished piece using one of my burned pictures. I was a little messy on the poly, so I've got to clean that up, but right now I love it!

blog feature

My artwork is being featured on the Etsy Fine Art Gallery Blog this week, check it out:
http://etsyartgallery.blogspot.com/

I am so excited and honored to shown there!

Fun Linoleum Printing

I have been on a linoleum block printing kick. It's such a quick and easy way to make art prints, and has helped me be patient in waiting to have my printing press set up. Cutting them out is therapeutic and somewhat meditative for me, too.
Here's what I've been working on:









Using watercolor for tinting works so well with these, too. I will most definitely be making more!

more pretties

Lately I've had another little obsession...making these little brooches. I am totally enjoying their small-ness and making up little stories about them...I might need to get out of the house more.

Etsy Front Page!

Ok, so this was old news even when I found out about it...but it turns out I made it to the front page of Etsy! It was on December 24th, I don't know what time, though. I found out through Google Alerts, which has proven to be a very useful tool for me.
Here is a screenshot:



My painting is the second from the bottom on the right.

wheeeeeeee!